It was all going fine at Phish, until the storm came

Weather truncated a fine set by the band

July 20, 2013|By Claudia Perry, Special to the Tribune

(Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)

The first half of Phish's Friday night show, the first of three nights at the FirstMerit Pavilion at Northerly Island was going, er, swimmingly. The lawn was dry, though the cattle chute separating the lawn from the general admission area on the asphalt was still in place. Access to the lawn from other areas was prohibited, one of the concert security people said, in case they had to get people out of there in hurry.

An hour and 30 minutes or so later, those words proved to be prophetic. Phish had played the first half of its set, kicking off with "Suzy Greenberg," followed by "Wolfman's Brother." For newer Phisheads, the band conveniently tweets the set list in real time. After about a 20-minute break, guitarist Trey Anastasio was settling into "Prince Caspian" after the band played "Down With Disease," when keyboard man Page McConnell whispered in Anastasio's ear. "We have to evacuate," Anastasio said. "When this blows over, we'll come back out." It didn't and they didn't.

First of all, Phish is not a jam band. Most jam bands cannot change time signatures if you gave them a three-minute running start. And musically, Anastasio doesn't go in for bravura and pyrotechnics but he's a solid guitar player. McConnell also has a knack for blues and funk without the bombast of someone trying to prove how good they are. The underpinning for "Scent of a Mule" turned into what sounded like a Russian folk song. The rhythm section of drummer John Fishman and bassist Mike Gordon can also shine, and Gordon is the best vocalist in the band hands down. Fishman's turn on the electronic xylophone was especially pleasing.

So even though the fans got a truncated version of the usual Phish experience (some arrived late thanks to the CTA's decision not to run the No. 146 bus to the Museum Campus after 6 p.m., unlike the arrangement for Spring Awakening at Soldier Field; there were one or two other shows in town), it might have been the best of the bunch.